


The Adventures of a Modern Day Savior

by Lois_Lane



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: #cs ff, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Captain Swan - Freeform, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-22 16:37:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3736012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lois_Lane/pseuds/Lois_Lane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Swan College AU: Dying, seven-year-old Emma was found, bruised and unconscious, on the streets by a boy named David. David's mom decided to take her in and for once in her life, Emma is happy. But then she messed it all up in the 'incident'. Now that she's starting college, she can begin fresh. But how long do fresh starts actually last? What happens when her past refuses to stay out of her future? What happens if those odd coincidences in her childhood turn out to be more than that? Fortunately, there are three constants in her new life: her brother, her new roommate Mary Margaret, and her who-knows-what Killian. But can they stop her from breaking under the pressure?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first AU, so let me know if I'm doing it horribly wrong. It's going to be a Captain Swan college AU, but the prologue is all backstory. I'm sorry if it is really dense, I just had it brewing in my mind and wanted to get it down on paper. I hope you enjoy it, despite its clear lack of Captain Swan so far (it'll come next chapter, I promise).

Emma was in agonizing pain and covered in sweat. She took a breath and tried to ignore the almost-stranger standing in the corner watching her intently and the doctor with his hands in a not-so-comfortable area shouting for her to push. Her only comfort was her brother standing next to her, holding her hand and wiping her forehead.

With a final push, and a flickering of the hospital's power, the baby was out. She closed her eyes and turned away, but still heard the doctor announce that it was a boy. She would have preferred if _it_ had remained an it- an object rather than a human.

"Emma," the doctor hesitated. "Would you like to hold him once before-"

"No. He's hers," Emma cried as her brother gave her hand a squeeze.

"Thank you, Miss Swan," the woman in the corner said before clearing her throat and taking her son.

Emma had met the woman once before—a month ago. Emma had picked her out of the stack of applicants looking to adopt her—the baby. Her name was Regina Mills and she was some sort of politician and a professor at one of the local universities. She had been Ivy League educated, had more doctorates than Emma could count, an annual income of a hundred thousand, as well as a summer house on some fancy island. She was widowed, but otherwise the happy ending her—the baby deserved.

When Emma selected her, she asked to meet Regina at the teahouse down the road from her school. Emma had been spending a lot of time there lately doing homework, reading books, or just avoiding the mess she made of her life. Sometimes she went alone but often she went with her brother.

She couldn't bare going to any of her old hangouts anymore, not since the incident (as she, her brother, and mom called it). She couldn't handle seeing all the kids from her old school as they looked on with judgmental snickers or pity. So, she decided that Mad Hatter's Teahouse, her new home-away-from-home, would be the best place to meet the person who would be the baby's savior.

 _'We are meeting on my turf. I have the upper hand here,'_ Emma thought to herself as she entered the teahouse 30 minutes early to prepare for the meeting. She had planned to go over the questions she had prepared for the lady, but was too nervous and instead preoccupied herself with her law and ethics paper.

Emma identified Regina the moment she entered the teahouse. She walked with an air of power and wisdom that Emma had never seen. She was beautiful too, in a regal way. Her hair was cropped short and she made the pantsuit she wore look fashionable. Regina's eyes scanned the room and landed on her. Being the only pregnant seventeen year old there made it a dead giveaway.

Regina walked, or more like glided, toward her with a composed face covering most of her nervousness. "Miss Swan?"

"Uh-hi," Emma stuttered as she quickly stood up offering her hand to Regina, while supporting her big belly with the other.

Regina took Emma's hand gently, before smiling and glancing down at her bump.

"Please, take a seat," Emma squeaked out as she motioned across from her.

A waiter came over to take Regina's order. Emma noted the traditional black coffee Regina ordered and waited for the waiter to leave again before asking Regina to tell her more about herself and the type of mother she wants to be.

Regina talked for about 20 minutes and after her 'strict but loving mother' speech, Regina hesitated before asking, "Miss Swan, I hate to bring this up, but are you sure you want to do this? Give up your baby, I mean. I had another mother once, but she decided to keep the baby at the last minute and I'm not really sure I can handle that again."

"Yes, Ms.—Professor Mills."

"Regina."

"Regina—I am not at a point in my life where I am fit to be a mother. I know that. I know it was irresponsible for me to get pregnant. It was a mistake. It would also be a mistake for me to keep the baby—one that would not only ruin my life, but the baby's as well. After reading and hearing about you, I know you would be the perfect mother and you deserve a baby way more than I do."

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Miss Swan."

"I- I also want you to know that even though we are meeting, we are meeting here for a reason and that specific details for either of us have not been disclosed. After the birth, this is to act like a closed adoption. No further contact. That is why I have used the adoption agency to get in touch with you, and will use it again to contact you when I go into labor. It's better if the baby doesn't know anything about me and I very little about you. It deserves its best chance and that is without me."

"I understand."

Emma finished her tea before excusing herself.

Emma heard the baby crying in the woman's hands and began crying herself.

"Hey, hey, Emma," her brother comforted her. "It's all over. We can forget about it now.

And Emma did forget about the baby, but never the man who did this to her—who helped her ruin the life she tried so hard to build up for herself.

She was an orphan. Some boy had found her abandoned on the side of a highway and she went into foster care immediately. When she was two months old, a couple adopted her. She lived with them until she was three, but then the couple got a divorce and blamed it on her. From there she went back into foster care and was passed around a series of foster parents, each more abusive than the next.

When she was seven, her foster dad had beaten her almost unconscious until her foster mom came home and stopped him. Emma grabbed her backpack of things and ran as far as she could, covered in blood and barely able to stay awake. She had made it a town over before she fell down, unconscious.

When she came to, a boy her age was cradling her head. He asked if she was okay and she started crying. He held her tighter and wiped her tears.

"Where are your mommy and daddy?"

"I don't have any."

Emma's head started spinning again.

"It's okay. I do. I'm gonna get her. Okay? I'll be right back. I promise."

Emma blacked out again. When she woke up again, she was in the hospital. She knew that because she heard the same beeping as on the doctor soap opera her foster mom watched. She kept her eyes closed but she heard the grown-ups talking about her.

"The blanket in her bag says Emma, but that's all I know. My son, David, said he found her in the alley down the street from us. She told him she didn't have parents."

"She might be a run away. Those cuts and bruises are definitely from abuse. She has internal bleeding. She's very lucky your son found her."

"What's going to happen to her?"

"Well, Child Protective Services has already been called. They're going to investigate. If she has a family, she will probably be given to one of them if they decide to take her, otherwise she will most likely end up in the foster system."

Emma began crying, making sure to keep it silent, like she had to around her foster dad. He didn't tolerate crying. She really didn't want to go back to foster care.

"Oh, God. That is an awful fate."

"Yes, but much better than staying with whoever was hurting her."

"There is nothing else that can be done?"

"In cases of child abuse, there is a very strict protocol to follow."

"I don't know anything about her but I know she doesn't deserve that life. And I don't have much, but I have a spare room and always more than enough to eat. If she doesn't have any family, what would be the process of becoming a foster parent?

"Hey," Emma heard a whisper right next to her ear. "Don't cry. They're gonna take care of you, Emma."

Emma opened her eyes to look up at the boy and more tears spilled out. "I can't go back to the system. It's awful. Please, don't let them do it."

The boy looked concerned before whispering, "I'll try my hardest, I promise."

He held up his pinky and Emma took it in hers. It was a pinky promise and to a seven year old, that is sacred. The boy smiled and said, "I'm David, by the way. I'm seven years old and I'm gonna be in the F.B.I. when I grow up!"

"I'm Emma," she smiled for the first time since she could remember. "I'm seven too and I'm gonna be a detective!"

"Cool! Maybe you'll find my dad. He went to work one day and got lost so he couldn't find his way back."

"Yeah. I'll find my mom and dad too."

"David?"

The boy looked up at his mom.

"Honey, is Emma awake?"

"Yes. Mommy, she's gonna be a detective when she grows up!"

"Yeah? Emma, honey, I'm David's mom, Mrs. Nolan. I brought you into the hospital because you were hurt really badly."

The boy's mom took Emma's hand in hers. "The doctor and some people from Child Protective Services need to talk to you, okay? You need to tell them the truth. They just want to help you."

Emma's smile disappeared but she nodded in response, grasping her hand back in return. "Please, ma'am, don't let them take me. They don't care and the people they give me to don't care either."

"Sweetheart, we'll do our best to make sure you're okay."

After two months of paperwork, interviews, home check-ups, string pulling, and other annoying protocol, Emma was finally moving in with the Nolans, her new foster family.

Mrs. Nolan even took her to Ikea to pick out her perfect room as well as a trip to the mall to pick out clothes, toys, and school supplies. Not only had she found a new family, one that actually cared about her, but she had also found a best friend in David. They were inseparable.

Emma had been moved into a temporary foster family in the same city as the Nolans to start school there before she moved in with them to make the process easier. As luck would have it, she had been placed in David's class. They would help each other with their homework, share lunches, spend recess together, and even have play dates at David's house. David was the first stable person in her life.

Around this time, the strange coincidences that occurred in Emma's life began to happen more often. When she was little, things seemed to 'magically' happen around her. If her foster parents were being mean, vases would magically shatter or rugs would magically curl up around their feet and trip them. If something made her happy, sometimes a warm chocolate chip cookie would appear on her bed or a rainbow would appear with no sign of rain.

But when she moved in with the Nolans, it did grow stronger. Her lanterns would flicker, flowers would spring up right around her, she would find that the peas she had dread eating would turn into M&M's. One time, when David and her had gotten into particularly bad trouble with the recess proctor, they magically appeared on the other end of the playground and it had caused such confusion that no one ended up in trouble at all. Though, no one thought anything of it or connected it to her until she was much older.

Emma had never been so happy in her life. That is, until the last day of elementary school when Mrs. Nolan asked Emma if she would like to be adopted and officially part of the Nolan family. Of course, Emma agreed, with the stipulation that she got to call Mrs. Nolan mom and David her brother.

With much discussion and thought, Emma decided to keep her last name, Swan. The first family who adopted her had given it to her. Emma decided that she would keep it as a reminder of where she came from and how you can always improve your life.

That year had proved to be very significant in Emma's life. She had been adopted by the first real family she ever had, she decided she no longer cared about finding her own parents, she went to her first concert, went to camp (with David of course) for the first time, started her period, started middle school, and met the boy who she would share her first kiss, first date, and her first time with—the boy who would ultimately bring her to her lowest since meeting the Nolans. His name was Neal.

Neal was also an orphan. His mom had died and his dad abandoned him two years prior, giving him up to the state. Neal was placed in the home that Emma had stayed in until the Nolans took her in. Emma and David met him in their second hour history class. They all became very close friends. They were the kind of trio you see in Disney movies, except they managed to get into too much trouble for a kids movie.

The first time Emma kissed him was in a game of truth or dare at a party in seventh grade. It was just a quick kiss, but it was enough to put the thought on both of their minds. The next time the trio had a camp out in the Nolan's backyard, Neal waited until David fell asleep and kissed Emma again, for real this time.

For the next couple years, they would occasionally kiss and then pretend it didn't happen. Finally, in the summer after eighth grade, Neal asked Emma out on a proper date. He took her out to the pizzeria downtown. After they finished, they played on the pinball machine before heading to a movie that Emma would never remember because she was too busy being nervous about him holding her hand and maybe kissing her again.

By high school they were actually dating. Except instead of sneaking in for an innocent kiss, he was sneaking in and slowly stealing her innocence. They were, as far as they were concerned, completely in love. Their junior year, Neal made a new friend that neither Emma nor David met. He went by August.

Slowly, Neal started getting into trouble when he wasn't with them. First, it was small stuff- graffiti and petty theft. He got off with community service. But then it got worse. They assaulted some guys and spent a night in jail. Another time they got MIPed and spent another night in jail.

One night in May, Neal finally invited Emma to hang out with him and August. Though she knew August was trouble, her curiosity got the best of her and she accepted. They headed over to the school and August had them break in while he waited outside. Emma thought they were just going to hang out in the gym. Kids broke in all the time to do that. But she was surprised when Neal led her towards the library.

He pushed a cart towards her and told her it was a bunch of cake for the school's basketball state champion victory. They were going to steal the cakes and smear them on the basketball team's cars. Her job was to take the cart to the back door. He was going to find August and meet her there.

When she got to the back door she walked outside and there were cop cars waiting for her. A janitor had been around and saw some kids heading off with the laptops and called the cops. Two boys had taken off with the stolen driver's ed car—an old Volkswagen Bug.

Emma confessed to what happened and though no legal action was taken, she was expelled from her school. The laptops were returned, but the driver's ed car never was. Neal and August were never caught. It was presumed they headed for Canada.

Mrs. Nolan, upset with the school district, pulled David from it as well. Despite the mishap and that they would be incredibly behind in lessons, they were both accepted into a prep school that was a 45 minute drive away. And a week after that, Emma learned she was pregnant.

Mrs. Nolan left the choice of what to do with the baby up to Emma. Emma decided to give it up to a good home and continue with school. Both she and David attended a summer program to bring them up to the school's standards. The school was tolerant of Emma's situation, using her as an example of reform possibilities.

After the birth of the baby the December of her senior year, Emma picked up her life even more. She was determined to make it up to her mom. She was determined to make something of her life. She decided to become a lawyer who fights for child advocates and children in general. Although, her love life was a complete mess. She distracted herself from Neal through a series of random flings throughout the year, never allowing herself to get attached to anyone else.

Both David and she were accepted into their first choice college, an hour and a half from home. Emma decided that this was her chance to once again change her life for the better and she was grateful that she would continue to do that with her brother by her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's very Captain Swan from here on out. I promise. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!


	2. Chapter 1: A Fresh Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant for this to span more time, but I actually like how it worked out. Hopefully you do too!

Emma woke up to the opening of her door and a giggle. She took a deep breath and almost gagged as her nose was hit with the smells of rum and sex.

"Shh," she heard someone whisper, but kept her eyes shut.

Under her head and arm, she felt a chest rise and fall, which made her hold her breath. She tried her hardest to remember the events of the previous night, but that just brought on another wave of nausea and made her head pound.

"I think Emma spent the night with a boy too," Mary-Margaret, her new roommate, whisper-giggled.

"Can we please not talk about that?" a voice sounding oddly like her brother's groaned.

“Oy,” the incredibly sexy voice belonging to the body under Emma called. Emma felt his head lift as she continued to pretend to sleep, “David! Mate, brilliant. We ended up bedding roommates!”

“You slept with my sister?” David yelled.

Emma heard a loud crashing noise before opening her eyes and seeing her brother charging towards her. “What the hell? David, stop!”

Emma sat up, thrusting her arm out to hold her brother at bay and winced at how it reinforced the killer migraine taking over her head and neck. She took a deep breath, and ignoring yet another wave of nausea, she looked down at the man under her and sighed in relief. At least what ever poor decisions she made last night were with an incredible attractive man.

“ _What the hell?_ What the hell is going on with _you_? I thought you were gonna have a fresh start once we got to college. I thought you were done with this,” David motioned towards her and the man in her bed.

“College doesn’t begin until tomorrow, so it doesn’t count. And it’s not like you can talk. You slept with my roommate!”

The man under her shifted uncomfortably. Mary-Margaret’s face turned a violent shade of red and she suddenly became super interested at the pattern of their tiled floor. David, on the other hand, was furious.

“We didn’t sleep together. Well, I guess we fell asleep together,” he mumbled, “But we spent the whole night talking. Do you even know his name?”

“It doesn’t matter. It was just a drunk mistake. It’s not like I’ll ever see him again. It’s just another one-night-stand,” Emma explained, rolling her eyes.

“Killian,” the man under her interrupted in his beautifully accented voice. “My name is Killian. And sorry to disappoint, lass, but I’m your brother’s roommate, so we may see each other a bit more than never.”

“You’re his roommate?” she shouted at this Killian as she pushed herself away from him with quite a bit of force, but careful to keep her sheets up. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know he is your brother,” Killian shouted back, raising his hands in defense. “I thought you two just met at the party same as anyone else.”

“Look,” Mary-Margaret pitched in, “Clearly mistakes were made.”

David glanced up at her after that comment to make sure she wasn’t referring to their night spent together. She shook her head no before continuing, “Clearly we’ll all be seeing one another over the next year. We probably shouldn’t start this all off with anger. Let’s all go down to the cafeteria and sort this out over brunch.” 

Emma closed her eyes, pinching her brow. How the hell had she managed to fuck up already? No matter how much she tried to pull her life together, she always managed to mess it up with one stupid mistake. Rookie mistake, sleeping with someone that she would have to see, someone who should be her brother’s friend. She decided that she had to make it right with David, so she agreed to what would no doubt be a terribly awkward brunch.

~

After two glasses of Gatorade and three cups of coffee, Emma was finally able to look her brother in the eyes and get this embarrassing moment over with. 

“David, you’re right. I fucked up and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten that drunk and I shouldn’t have slept with your roommate--”

“Emma, it doesn’t even matter that much that he’s my roommate, I just thought you were over all of these flings. I thought you were finally going to be able to move on.”

“Move on with what?” Killian interrupted.

Mary-Margaret shushed him. “Let them work this out.”

“I’m trying to. I will. Starting tomorrow, this is all in the past. We’ll all forget this. We will go to our morning classes. David and I will meet for lunch and we will bring our roommates, who don’t know anyone else well enough to have lunch with them. We’ll be excited to meet even more new people and find each other at least tolerable. We’ll talk about our first day in college and it’ll be great.” Emma looked each of them in the eye, begging them to agree, which they did.

Emma smiled and then narrowed her eyes, “Wait, before we erase all this, how exactly did you two meet?”

~

(The Previous Day)

Emma laid exhausted on her bed. She would just fall asleep if she didn’t have to go buy her textbooks and a new backpack since she ripped hers while moving her stuff in. But she wanted to wait until her roommate arrived so she could meet her. She turned her head to look at her clock. It was noon. Check-in ended at 1:00, so she should be here soon. Emma sighed and decided that in the meantime she would fold her clothes since she had just thrown them in the dresser while she was unpacking.

David was helping her unpack first so, she wanted to hurry it along because she could tell how badly he wanted to see his new room and meet his roommate. He had been super excited for their new start. He made them pack up his brown pick-up truck the night before and woke her up at 7 a.m. sharp so they could shower, eat, say proper goodbyes and still would get to their dorm at 10 a.m., just in time for Check-in to begin. 

It only took them about 20 minutes for them to sign the paperwork and get their school ID’s programmed with the proper key codes for the dorm and their rooms, as well as their meal plans. So, by 11 all of Emma’s bags were in her room and David was setting up her electronics while she made her bed and threw her clothes in the dresser. 

“You should go snag a locker in the bathroom, before they’re all gone. Your RA said there are only enough for half the people on each floor.”

“Oh, good idea,” Emma responded, grabbing her combination lock. “I’ll grab one for my roommate too, that should put us off to a good start.”

They were living in one of the nicest dorms on campus. It had the largest rooms, the best cafeteria, a convenience store, a great rec room, numerous study rooms, as well as music practice rooms, an art studio, and a media lab filled with computers containing any type of software and access to any tech you could dream of. The only downside to this dorm was that it had community bathrooms.

By 11:45 they were done unpacking her stuff and she offered to help David with his stuff, but he refused to let her, telling her she needed to be there to meet her roommate. Knowing there was no reason to try arguing with him, she agreed. Plus, she was really excited to meet her roommate too. 

At 12:47 Emma jumped out of her half-asleep state as a suitcase fell, knocking her door open. The suitcase was followed by a very defeated looking girl with a pixie cut. Emma hopped up to offer a hand in helping her up. 

The girl smiled, and took Emma’s hand. “Thanks! You must be my roommate.” 

“Emma. Do you need help?”

Emma looked the girl up a down. She was cute. She had short, black hair and blue eyes. She was quite pale but had a pretty rose blush to her cheeks. She was a bit shorter than Emma, and thin. Emma scorned herself as she thought about how satisfied she was with her roommate’s appearance. She wasn’t generally this shallow, but starting college was a huge step and if her roommate was awkward looking, then it would be embarrassing for her to hang out with her. But if her roommate was too pretty, then no one would even notice Emma. Emma rolled her eyes at herself and picked up the toppled suitcase. 

“Yes, please. I’m Mary-Margaret. My dad was supposed to help me, but he’s an ambassador and there was a last minute issue and, well, here I am carrying way too many bags up three flights of stairs.”

“There’s an elevator.”

“Yes. Packed with suitcases, which is why I probably should not have waited until last minute to check-in.”

“Here, let me grab these. Do you have any more?”

“Yes. I still have two-thirds of a SUV full.”

“Oh, wow. Well, let’s get these in and I’ll help you grab the rest.”

“Thank you so much! I definitely owe you!”

Emma laughed, “Just keep that in mind during finals week!”

Emma helped Mary-Margaret move all of her belongings in and they had great conversations about their majors (Emma was pre-law, Mary-Margaret was education) and their dreams (Emma would be a lawyer for child advocates and Mary-Margaret would join Teach for America and then teach in third world countries). 

They also talked a bit about their families Mary-Margaret’s mom had died from cancer when she was eight and her dad is the American ambassador in Spain, so she spent most of her time in a boarding school and didn’t see her dad often. Emma talked about her mom and brother. She talked about how David’s father had left before they could remember but left out the fact that she was actually adopted. This was going to be her fresh start and they are her family after all. 

Emma and Mary-Margaret finished setting up their room at 3:30, right in time for Emma’s stomach to growl loud enough for the entire floor to hear. 

The girls decided to grab some sandwiches at a diner before heading to the bookstore. As Emma picked up her “Introduction to Law and the Legal System” textbook, her phone whistled. 

_David:_  
_Em, my roomy is awesome! How’s yours? He invited me to a party at Phi Kappa Psi. Meet us there @10? Bring your roomy if you want.  
(4:14 pm)_

Emma sat the book in her basket and responded:

_She’s fantastic. You’ll love her. She’s a romantic and a dreamer like you. :P And sure. I’ll ask if she wants to join.  
(4:15 pm)_

~

“How about this?” Mary-Margaret asked as she spun around.

“Sure, if you want to remind them of their moms,” Emma laughed and Mary-Margaret threw a cardigan at her. 

“Hey, I’ve never been to a real party before!”

“Really? Aren't boarding school brats known for throwing parties with their parents' credit cards?”

“Yes, but you would have to get invited to one to go.”

“You could just crash one. Wow, I have so much to teach you!”

“Yes, you will be my social life savior,” Mary-Margaret laughed.

Emma joined in. “Here, the dress is actually not bad. Just lose the cardigan--yep. And now just undo these.”

Emma unbuttoned the top four buttons of Mary-Margaret’s dress and tossed her some heels.

“Thanks,” Mary-Margaret blushed at her own innocence. “What are you going to wear?”

“Just one of my old dresses,” Emma responded while pulling on a short, skin-tight red dress.

“Wow!”

Emma blushed while slipping on her heels and checking up on her make-up. “Okay, ready?”

“Let’s go to our first college party,” Mary-Margaret giggled while looping her arm in Emma’s.

~

The frat house was packed when the girls got there at 10:30. They had gotten a bit turned around on their way there. As soon as they entered, they were handed shots of who-knows-what. 

“Emma, we don’t know what it is,” Mary-Margaret warned.

“Aw, dis girl white as snow,” the guy who handed her the shot teased.

Emma blushed, and whispered in her roommate’s ear, “Nothing that will kill us, just take it and have fun!”

Mary-Margaret didn’t look sure but finally took it after some more coaxing. As the drink hit her tongue, she cringed and almost gagged.

“Have you never drank before?” Emma whispered in her ear.

“Of course I have. I drink wine at my dad’s dinners all the time,” she exclaimed defensively.

Emma laughed as she ushered her friend farther in the house, looking for her brother. They finally found him in the basement and she hugged him and went to introduce her roommate, but found that she had disappeared. 

“Where is your roommate?” Emma shouted over the noise. 

“He went off to play a game of beer pong. I’ll introduce you later.”

“Sounds good. Let’s get some drinks!”

Emma had a few drinks with her brother before heading off in search of her roommate. She ended up finding her in a corner with a cup of crappy beer in her hand. 

“Hey! I grabbed us more shots,” Emma sat down, offering her one.

“I’m good,” Mary-Margaret shouted, “I’ve got my beer. You take them!”

Which is exactly what Emma did. They conversed for awhile and Mary-Margaret even joined Emma on the dance floor before Emma got whisked away by a random frat guy. 

After she got bored with the guy’s attempts to get her in his bed, she walked up to a random, attractive man and said, “Hey, honey!”

His bright blue eyes pierced her (as much as his drunk state would allow) with a questioning, puppy look.

She stared up at him with a pleading, ‘just go with it’ look. The frat guy came up behind Emma and tried to take her hand. Attractive Man finally understood and took Emma by her waist, pulling her into him.

“There you are, love,” he kissed the top of her head and Emma’s jaw dropped as she heard his beautiful accent. “I was just about to start another game of beer pong, be my partner?”

Emma gave the frat guy a dirty look and headed off with Attractive Man. 

After their second game of beer pong, Emma was leaning all her weight on Attractive Man because she couldn’t support it herself, not that he was doing much better.

“Wait, wait,” she slurred, “I have-a make sure my roommate’s okay. She’s never been here. A party, I mean. To a party. I--”

“I got it, love. What’s she look like?”

Emma tripped and Attractive Man caught her. “You are really strong muscles,” she giggled. 

“I can show you them all,” he offered as he began taking off his shirt.

“Yes. Wait. Mary-Margaret. I-” Emma stumbled a bit more and Killian followed, with his hand guiding her the best he could. 

“Oh, there she is,” Emma exclaimed and then stopped worrying since she was just conversing with her brother. He would make sure she got home safe. That was David.

“Good. Now, we can worry about this.”

“What?”

“This,” and the Attractive Man silenced her with his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I've never written a AU, so I struggle with how much of the characters should remain in tact and so feedback is definitely appreciated.


	3. Chapter 2: Hot Chocolate and Hot Guys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I've had a very busy couple weeks and this is a transition chapter so, I just couldn't come up with anything I was happy with. After this chapter there will be more character backstories from the rest of our characters and then the plot will pick up really quickly the chapter after.
> 
> Also, sorry for the cheesy story behind 'Snow'. I just got really tired of writing out Mary-Margaret. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

“Emma,” Mary-Margaret called out after seeing her roommate in the crowd rushing towards the cafeteria. Emma looked up and pushed her way through the sea of bodies.

“Mary-Margaret! Have you found the boys yet?”

“Not yet. How was your first class?”

“It was crazy. I’ll tell when the boys arrive so I don’t have to keep repeating it, especially since my mom will probably make me retell her everything ten times. How was your first class?”

“It was amazing. Spanish 301 is easy when you’re fluent because you spend half your life in Spain. So, I took the quick level assessment quiz and then just talked to the professor the whole time.”

“Wow, you’re a teacher’s pet type,” Emma joked. “But I expect you to be my tutor when I start 201 next semester.”

“Not after that comment,” Mary-Margret stuck out her tongue.

A hand clasped Emma’s shoulder causing her to jump and let out a shriek. Turning around, she punched her brother’s arm. “God, David, why would you do that?”

David and Killian began laughing really hard causing Emma to send an icy glare at them both. Mary-Margaret, who was also laughing, ushered Emma and Killian in front of her and closer to the entrance to the cafeteria as she slipped behind with David.

“How was your first class, David?”

“Uhh, I may have fallen asleep,” he smiled while avoiding Mary-Margaret’s eyes, like a child about to be scorned.

Emma chuckled. “It can’t be worse than when you fell asleep in Mr. Eddison’s class Sophomore year of high school.”

“Very true,” David laughed. “That was awful. I thought for sure I would get suspended.”

Mary-Margaret’s eyes went wide. “What happened?”

David ushered everyone up farther in the line before answering, “Well, he slammed a textbook down next to my head, which made me jump up and my desk slammed right into his crotch. He was down for what? Like ten minutes?”

“Possible longer,” Emma confirmed as everyone laughed. Glancing up, she then noticed that Killian was keeping a bit of distance from the group and avoiding her eye. She wanted the awkwardness to stop and so she caught David's eye before adding, "David, we forgot to introduce our roommates."

David tilted his head in confusion before finally grasping the situation, "Oh, right! Emma, this is Killian. Killian, this is my sister, Emma."

Killian forced a smile at Emma before scratching the back of his neck and offering her his hand.

"Nice to meet you," Emma took his hand before adding, "David, this is Mary-Margaret. Mary-Margret, my brother David."

Mary-Margaret giggled and took David's hand, and humored them with a "nice to meet you."

When they were finally able to make it through the line into the cafeteria, they had to make a mad dash to the proper food lines, in which they spent about another ten minutes waiting. Once they found a table and were able to sit, Mary-Margaret grabbed at David’s schedule hanging out of his bag, resulting in all of them taking theirs out to compare. 

“Awesome, it looks like we can all do lunch on Mondays and Wednesdays,” David determined.

“It looks like Mary-Margaret and I can do lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we can do lunch before my class on Fridays, David!”

“I can do lunch with you Fridays,” Killian announced before meeting Emma’s eye and sheepishly adding, “If the lady doesn’t mind.” 

Emma was caught a bit off guard and blushed a little as she responded, “Uh, sure.”

Killian responded with a grateful smile. 

“It looks like all of us are out of class by six every night, so we all meet for dinner at 6:30?” Mary-Margaret asked after staring at the schedules and missing the entire exchange between her roommate and Killian, who she was still trying to get a read on.

“It’s like we haven’t even a need to make other friends,” Emma joked.

“So, Emma, you were going to tell me about your first class?”

“Oh, right. It was a lecture with almost 300 people. The prof gave this intense speech about how Law 101 is a ‘weeder class’. Apparently only 75 percent of us will make it through the first week, only half of us will even go on to our second Law class and only an eighth of us will actually graduate with a Pre-Law degree. Then he gave a creepy smile and just started lecturing us on law. We all kind of just looked at each other and panicked to get out notebooks. It was like whiplash, but it was interesting.”

“Nice. It sounds kind of intimidating though,” Mary-Margaret smiled, though her nose was still stuck in the schedules.

“Yeah. I think that’s what he was trying to do, though-- scare off the weak,” Emma laughed nervously, praying she didn’t fall into that category.

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re the strongest person I ever met,” David took her hand in encouragement.

Mary-Margaret finally sat the schedules on the table and asked, “If you guys are twins, why do you have different last names? Do one of you have your mom’s and one of you have your dad’s?”

David instantly found a new interest in the mashed potatoes and broccoli on his plate and Emma’s face grew dark. Emma simply answered no and the look on her face warned everyone to leave it at that, which they did without further question.

In attempt to change the subject, Mary-Margaret asked David about his first two classes and he replied animatedly with his story until they were interrupted by a loud-mouthed guy who pointed to Mary-Margaret.

“Look there, it’s Snow White from the party the other night! Mind if we join you, Snow? We don’t have anywhere else to go.”

One of the girls with him giggled, “You rhymed!”

He rolled his eyes at the girl and introduced himself, “My name is James. This is Jacqui.”

“Uh, sure. Go ahead and sit down,” David offered. “My name is David. This is my roommate, Killian, and my sister, Emma. How do you know Mary-Margaret?”

James looked confused before realizing whom David was referring to before laughing and responding, “Oh, Snow? Well, we met at a party the other night. I’m pretty sure it was her first party ever, so I guess I can say I’m her first party friend.”

James winked at Snow, causing Jacqui to get jealous and wrap her arm around James’ neck. Mary-Margaret blushed at the attention. When James noticed he added, “Aw, honey. There’s nothing wrong with being as pure as Snow. Jacqui here is just jealous because she can’t even remember IF she was ever that pure.”

Jacqui got pissed and, pushing her chair out forcefully, stood up and walked away.

James laughed before standing up himself, “I guess that’s my cue to leave. Can’t get the honeys too upset.”

Once James made his exit, the table burst out in laughter and Mary-Margret’s blush deepened. 

“I kind of like it--Snow. It’s a nice nickname. It suits you,” David smiled at her, getting a smile in return. 

“And everyone knows a nickname makes you ten times more mysterious and therefore a hundred times cooler,” Emma added with a smile.

“It’s settled then, you shall forever be Snow.”

Emma laughed and then realized, “Hey, isn’t your last name Blanchard? Like the color white? The nickname is just like fate!”

\------

Emma grabbed a to-go cup of hot chocolate on her way out of the cafeteria and headed to her next class, Stats 201. She wasn’t particularly fond of math, but she was good at it. She figured if she showed up to class and pretended to be interested she could get away with doing her homework for other classes there. 

So, when she sat down at her desk two thirds of the way back, in the perfect ‘let’s pretend I’m not here but don’t group me with the slacker kids right next to the door’ seat, she pulled out the reading packet for her Law class and began to glance over it.

About one minute before the class was scheduled to begin, a scruffy (in an oh my God, that’s hot way), thin guy rushes in and tries to push through to the seat next to Emma. As he turns to sit in the seat, his messenger bag hits Emma’s cup of hot chocolate, sending it flying at her. But, miraculously, as Emma put her hands up to shield herself, the trajectory of the cup stopped midair and went in the opposite direction, spilling all over the late-comer. 

“Ah,” he shouted in an Irish accent that made Emma’s heart jump. “Bloody hell, that burns. Feck me. I’m so sorry. FECK!”

At this point, all eyes were on him. Most people were laughing until they were red in the face and even the professor looked amused.

“And that is why we make sure to arrive at class on time, class,” the professor announced. “You are excused to clean yourself Mr.--” he trailed off.

“Hunter. Graham Hunter.”

“Yes, Mr. Hunter. And hopefully, in the future we will arrive with plenty of time to avoid mishaps.”

“Yes, sir. Sorry. I got lost.”

When Graham Hunter returned to class, he returned with a donut and to-go cup in hand as well as still very wet skinny jeans that clung to his legs in a very pleasing way. As he sat down, he placed the donut and to-go cup on Emma’s desk with a note on the cup facing toward her.

_My legs smelt like cocoa, so I ventured a guess as to what it was. I’m sorry, lass. Forgive me?  
-Graham, the class ass_

Emma read her cup before glancing up at Graham with a smile plastered on her face. 

Graham took it as a sign of her forgiveness and leaned over to ask her what he missed. She sent him a guilty look and held up her notebook to see they were law notes instead. Graham just shook his head and laughed. 

For the duration of the class, Emma looked over her Law reading and Graham pretended to take notes, but every few minutes or so they would catch each other’s eyes and smile.

At the end of class, as everyone was packing up their bags, Graham apologized to Emma once more and she promised him it was okay. He still awkwardly waited around a bit until Emma finished packing her bag and stood up. He followed her a few paces before tapping her on the shoulder.

“Wait, you know my name, but I never got a chance to learn yours.”

She smiled, “Emma.”

“Emma,” he repeated. “Emma, it looks like neither of us are good at paying attention during this class, so we may need study partners during the semester. If you do, I’m your guy, and I promise I won’t spill anymore of your beverages-- partly for my own safety.”

Emma’s smile grew, “I’m pretty good at math, but I’ll let you know.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll see you Wednesday, Emma.”

\--------

Emma found it hard to lose the smile the entire walk to her Human Biology class. Even talks of ‘Exam based course,’ ‘Cumulated final exam worth 40 percent of your grade,’ and ‘No computers allowed in class’ were barely able to make it falter. 

Emma couldn’t stop thinking about how she couldn’t wait for these random new people in her life to become her friends. She missed having friends. David always had her back, but he was her brother. It was different. And now there was so much potential with the people she met over the course of three days. No one would judge or pity her because she finally had her fresh start and no one knew about the past. She could finally be who she wanted to be. 

Emma entertained these thoughts through class and her walk back to her dorm. She got back at about 4:30, meaning she had about an hour and a half to waste until Mary-Margaret got back from class. Emma organized the materials from her classes and prepared her bag for the next day before flipping on the TV and catching the end of Pirates of the Caribbean. When the credits had played through, she figured David would be back and went upstairs to check on him. 

When she got to his room, she knocked on the door and heard him shout to come in. Opening the door, she found the roommates playing an intense round of Mario Kart (complete with nasty curses as the threw shells at each other). She walked up to David and gave him a one-armed hug.

“How was your day?”

“Good- shit. Are you kidding me? I totally dodged that. Em, one second.”

Emma laughed and sat next to him on the futon they had set up under one of their loft beds. 

When the game finished, with Killian in first place, Emma asked to join in. 

Killian allowed it, despite David’s warning. Killian regretted ignoring the warning by the third game in when they had both lost to her every time. Mary-Margaret found them playing, the boys with pouting faces and Emma with a very smug one, when she returned from class. 

“Ready for dinner, guys?”

Both boys immediately jumped up shouting “yes” and forfeiting the current game they were getting their asses handed to them in. 

Emma looked up and rolled her eyes. “You guys are such sore losers!”

\-----

Tuesday went by in a quick blur for Emma. She met a couple people in her classes who she enjoyed talking to but no one she could really see herself friends with outside of class. And since both of her classes (English 247: Civil Rights Composition and History 284: Law and Civilization) mostly focused on course goals and the syllabuses, forging bonds of friendship was her main concern.

She did get a phone number from a girl named Belle who she thought was quite lovely, but mostly because the girl seemed incredibly smart and like a useful friend to have around finals. Belle was an English major who wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do besides avoiding politics, which her parents had bred her for since birth. Her being an English major had practically gotten her shunned from her family. Emma decided that was probably the real connection she felt with the girl, the understanding of being unwanted. 

Emma changed her mind as she walked back to her dorm, maybe she could be friends with Belle. She probably would never hang out with her and play video games like she could with her new ‘family’, as she called it, but she could see a girl’s night with wine and gossip in their future. 

Emma got back to the dorms before the rest of her ‘family’. Tuesdays and Thursdays she was done with classes at three. Everyone else was in class until six. She decided that it was the perfect amount of time to head to the cafeteria to grab coffee and a snack while doing her homework.

That night, the gang had dinner, laughed about their days and retired to the girls’ room to watch movies. It was then that Emma realized that Killian always made sure to distance himself from her. He always sat on the opposite side of ‘Snow’ and David than her. He always asked her questions through David or Snow. He made sure he was never alone with her and he never looked her in the eye unless he had to. 

This frustrated Emma. They had agreed what happened was a one night stand and to completely forget about it. She didn’t expect them to become best friends, but she hoped that if they were really going to be spending that much time together, they could at least be friendly. Emma decided that if he wasn’t going to put in any effort, neither was she. She just couldn’t let David or Snow realize what’s happening, they would never condone this behavior.

\-----

When Emma arrived to her Stats class on Wednesday, she found Graham Hunter already seated in his desk and smiling up at her. She returned the smile and then glanced down at her desk, which once again, held a donut and a hot chocolate.

“I told you that we were okay. You didn’t have to do this.”

“I know, but I wanted to.”

“That’s a really cheesy line,” Emma said while sending him a jokingly judge-y look.

“It really is,” he laughed in response.

“So, how did your math homework go? Were you as bad off as you thought?”

“Well, I really could have used a study partner, but I managed.”

Emma laughed. “If you can prove your value as a study partner, I’ll give you a trial shot.”

“I always bring plenty of donuts and a second sharpened pencil,” he offered up.

Emma laughed again with that stupid grin returning to her face. “Hmm, well I already have a donut and a pencil. What else you got, Hunter?”

“A sexy Irish accent that all girls love,” he tried his best at a smoldering look.

Emma didn’t even try suppressing the grin anymore as she bantered back, “Eh-- it’s okay.”

Graham’s face fell into a fake pout, “You drive a hard bargain, Emma.”

“Aww, that’s not fair. You found my weakness,” Emma joked. “I can’t resist the puppy dog eyes.”

They both laughed before being silenced for the start of class. As the professor began writing some equations on the board, Emma wrote one of her own for Graham.

_Most important Stats 201 Equation:  
Emma = (617) 494 - 7548_

\------

“So remember that guy from my stats class I told you about?”

“The Irish one?” Snow asked as the gang sat around the table at lunch.

“Yeah,” Emma blushed. “He brought me a donut and hot chocolate again. I gave him my number.”

Snow squealed and both David and Killian looked up at Emma with concerned looks. 

“Emma, that’s a bit fast, isn’t it?”

“Stop worrying, David. We’re just going to be study buddies.”

“I don’t ever recall you needing a study buddy in any subject, especially math.”

“He needs help and he’s nice. It doesn’t hurt to have more friends.”

“Just be careful, okay?”

Emma started to argue that she didn’t need him to be a protective big brother and that she could make decisions on her own, but everyone was in a good mood so she just accepted it and responded with an okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any feedback is really appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> It's very Captain Swan from here on out. I promise. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!


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